| Today is: Tuesday, Iyar 27, 5771 · May 31, 2011
Omer: Day 42 - Malchut sheb'Yesod
• Count "Forty-Three Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-third day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is forty-three days, which are six weeks and one day, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing). The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai. Tonight's Sefirah: Chessed sheb'Malchut -- "Kindness in Receptiveness" The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot." Links:
How to count the Omer
The deeper significance of the Omer Count
• Eichmann Executed (1962)
Adolf Eichmann was hanged at Ramleh Prison in Israel following his trial and conviction for his crimes against against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes during World War II. Eichmann was a key party in implementing of Hitler's infamous "final solution." The height of his "career" was reached in Hungary in 1944, when he managed to transport 400,000 Jews to the gas chambers in less than five weeks.
And G-d smelled the sweet savor; and G-d said in his heart: I will not again curse the earth any more because of man, for the impulse of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done
- Genesis 8:21
Chitas and Rambam for today: | 
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